Category: Romans

  • On Mission

    We are on a mission from God

    Jake "Joliet" Blues and his brother Elwood

    The 1980 action musical comedy “The Blues Brothers”  is a madcap romp with the key players Jake “Joliet” Blues and his brother Elwood out to save an orphanage from destruction.

    It’s an insane, completely unbelievable story and anything but reverent, but somehow it works. It has an R rating, and while in some ways it is mild compared to the movies out there, parental discretion is definitely recommended on this one, and it won’t be to everyone’s taste.

    There is a line in that movie that sticks out in my memory. One of the brothers declares they “are on a mission from God.” That’s a dubious claim at best, but still memorable.

    Like the fictional Blue Brothers, you  and I are on a “mission from God.”

    As Christians, we often talk about what we are saved from. We are saved from the consequences of our sin, an eternity of well-deserved suffering, and separated from God.

    That is worth celebrating. None of us deserves the incredible mercy shown to us by Christ. No one is even close to good enough to earn an eternity with the Lord on their own merit.

    That aspect of salvation is certainly news that needs to be shared and is worth proclaiming to everyone. They, too, can be saved from hell.

    Yet, we often forget that while we are saved from that fate, we are also saved for something. 

    We are His ambassadors.

    Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV

    We are missionaries, evangelists, and teachers.

    And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 ESV

    We are peacemakers

    If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Romans 12:18 ESV

    We are to love others.

    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 ESV

    I could list many others, and I am sure you could do so easily as well.

    The Christian life isn’t one of passive waiting for Jesus to return. You and I are on a mission from God. We are the church set apart to bring glory to God.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

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  • Sealed – Holy Spirit Guaranteed

    artists conception of Noah's ark

    One of the things that always amazes me is how often we miss  critical details when we read familiar Bible stories. It may be because we have heard or read them so often that we don’t actually read them.

    Let me cite a couple of examples from the account of Noah and the flood.

    How many animals did Noah allow into the ark? Most people will say that’s easy. It’s two; he brought the animals onboard two by two.

    The Bible has a different answer.

    Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. Genesis 7:1-3 ESV

    There are pairs, seven pairs for clean animals and birds and a single pair for the unclean.

    How did the Ark stay afloat when everything else, including boats, was destroyed?

    Was it the construction? God gave very explicit instructions about how to build it.

    And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits,its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.  Genesis 6:13-16 ESV

    That may be part of the reason, but the larger portion of the answer is recorded elsewhere.

    And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. Genesis 7:16 ESV

    The ark remained afloat, keeping its inhabitants safe because the Lord sealed them in and the flood out.

    The Lord who sealed the ark for Noah, thus protecting Him, is the same Lord who seals us when we are Christians. It’s why Paul could say with confidence,

    Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Romans 8:35-37 ESV

    Jesus put it this way:

    I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. John 10:28-29 ESV

    Believers are sealed in by God. What a blessing.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

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